The Twins Who Lived: The Sorcerer's Stone (Revised)
by hannahfromravenclaw
Summary: What if it wasn't 'The Boy Who Lived' but 'The Twins Who Lived' Join Harry and his twin brother Henry as they go to Hogwarts and make friends on the opposing sides of the Hogwarts Houses rivalries. As they bring together the most unlikely of people to become friends, they will also try and save a powerful item that may not want to be in the wrong hands: the Sorcerer's Stone.
1. The Twins Who Lived

**Author's Note: Hey guys! I've finally found the time to start posting my new revised version of _The Twins Who Lived: The Sorcerer's Stone._ Hope you enjoy and sorry for the extremely long wait! I know the posting for this story was greatly overdue.**

The peculiar cat that had been keeping a suspicious watch over the Number 4 Privet Drive House started to create an uneasy feeling inside Mr. Dursley. The cat showed no sign of drowsiness as the source of the shadow's existence behind it came from the moon and stars instead of the sun. It was sitting as still as a statue, its yellow eyes fixed on the corner of Privet Drive.

A man appeared on the corner the cat had been keeping its eye on, appearing so suddenly and silently. The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed. The man was indeed very strange, like nothing a regular passerby on Privet Drive would usually see. Long robes and a purple cloak clad his body, along with high-heeled buckled boots. The bright and light blue eyes accompanied his half-moon spectacles, crooked nose, and shiny long beard. This was Albus Dumbledore.

Albus Dumbledore did not seem to mind the slightly eerie and unwelcome feeling on this street, and the house that was his ultimate target. He rummaged through his cloak, searching for something as the cat watched him intently. For some reason, the strange cat seemed to amuse him. He chuckled and muttered, "I should have known."

The item he pulled out of the inside of his pocket looked like a silver lighter. He flicked it open and clicked it, causing the nearest street lamp to go out with a little pop. Each click from the Put-Outer caused each light to go out until the street was nearly dark. Any person from his or her house could look out of the window and barely see a thing.

Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer back into his pocket and approached the cat, which was standing guard in front of house number four. He sat down next to the cat before looking at it and saying, "Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall."

He turned to smile at the tabby cat, but instead smiled at a rather strict-looking woman. She too wore spectacles, but instead of half-moon, they were squared. She wore a cloak as well, an emerald one; her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled.

"How did you know it was me?" she asked.

"My dear Professor, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly."

"You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day," said Professor

"All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here."

Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily.

"The owls are nothing next to the rumors that are flying around. You know what everyone's saying? About why he's disappeared? About what finally stopped You-Know-Who?" said Professor McGonagall.

"My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name? All this 'You-Know-Who' nonsense - for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: Voldemort."

Professor McGonagall flinched as Dumbledore continued. "It all gets so confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who.' I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort's name."

"I know you haven't, but you're different. Everyone knows you're the only one You-Know-Who, oh all right, Voldemort, was frightened of. But everyone's saying that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric's Hollow. He went to find the Potters. The rumor is that Lily and James Potter are - are - that they're - dead."

Dumbledore bowed his head and reached out to pat Professor McGonagall on the shoulder.

"That's not all," said Professor McGonagall continued in a trembling voice. "They're saying he tried to kill the Potters' twin sons, Harry and Henry. But - he couldn't. He couldn't kill those two little boys. No one knows why, or how, but they're saying that he couldn't kill the Potter twins. Voldemort's power somehow broke - and that's why he's gone."

Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles. Dumbledore sniffed as he took a golden watch out from his pocket and examined it. It was very odd, and it did not show hands and numbers but little planets moving around the edge. It must have made sense to Dumbledore though, because he put it back in his pocket and said, "Hagrid's late. I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, by the way?"

"Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell me why you're here, of all places?"

"I've come to bring Harry and Henry to their aunt and uncle. They're the only family they have left now."

"You don't mean - you can't mean the people who live here?" cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four. "Dumbledore - you can't. I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son - I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. Harry and Henry Potter come and live here!"

"It's the best place for them," said Dumbledore firmly. "Their aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to them when they're older. I've written them a letter."

"A letter?" repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. The Professor reprimanded Dumbledore about the muggle family not being able to care for two famous legendary wizard twin boys. "Every child will know their names!" she exclaimed.

"Exactly. It would be enough to turn any boy's head, being famous before they can walk and talk! Famous for something they won't even remember! They'll be much better of growing away from all that until they are both ready to take it," answered Dumbledore.

Professor McGonagall thought for a moment, her mouth open, until she changed her mind. She swallowed then said, "Yes, you're right, of course. But how are the boys getting here?"

"Hagrid's bringing them."

"You think it wise to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?"

"I would trust Hagrid with my life," answered Dumbledore.

A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them, steadily growing louder. Then a sign of a headlight appeared, and then soon the source of light morphed into a large motorcycle. It fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them, carrying a large hairy man, who appeared to be half-giant.

"Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. "At last. No problems, were there?"

"No, sir - house was almost destroyed, but I got them out all right before the Muggles started swarmin' around. One of 'em fell asleep as we was flyin' over Bristol."

"I suppose you can't tell me which of the two is the one asleep?" Dumbledore joked lightly.

"Er," said Hagrid as he looked at the bundle of blankets to see the two baby twin boys. Like Hagrid said, one of them was asleep while the other was wide awake, his hauntingly very green eyes staring up at the three adult figures. Each of the Potter boys had a lightning bolt scar on his forehead. The baby that was asleep had the scar on the right side of his head, and the one awake on his left side.

"Is that where - ?" whispered Professor McGonagall.

"Yes," said Dumbledore. "They'll have their scars forever."

"Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?"

"Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in handy, especially when in telling two twins apart. Without those scars, Hagrid, you wouldn't have known that Harry is the one asleep while Henry is the one wide awake."

Hagrid's jaw dropped slightly in amazement as McGonagall looked up at Dumbledore in shock.

"H-How can you tell them apart, Dumbledore?" asked Professor McGonagall.

"Lily once sent me a letter that told me that Henry's eyes are just a little bit greener."

Dumbledore then took Harry and Henry in his arms and turned toward the Dursleys' house.

"Could I - could I say good-bye to them, sir?" asked Hagrid. He bent his great, shaggy head over the two Potter boys and gave them each what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss. Then suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog.

"Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall, "you'll wake the Muggles!"

"S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid.

Dumbledore approached the front doorstep of the muggle house and laid the bundle of blankets that carried the Potter twins. He tucked a letter, which he pulled out of his cloak, inside the blankets, snug in between the blanket and the Potter twin who had his eyes wide open.

After a moment of silence, Dumbledore said, "Well that's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations."

Hagrid ascended on his motorcycle and flew away, his eyes still streaming with tears. Dumbledore took out his Put-Outer and returned the lamp post's lights. Everything seemed as normal as Dumbledore looked back to see the street, except for the bundle of blankets on the front doorstep of the house where now the peculiar tabby cat seemed to have returned.

"Good luck, Harry and Henry," murmured Dumbledore. Then with a swish of his cloak, the man disappeared into the night.

Little did the Potter twins know that in a few hours' time, Mrs. Dursley would wake them up with her scream when she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles, nor would they expect their life to be spent in harassment by their cousin Dudley... The two couldn't know that there was really such thing as magic, nor that at this very moment, there were magical people called wizards and witches who were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry and Henry Potter - the twins who lived!"


	2. Conversing With a Snake

"Up! Get up! Now!"

But Henry was already awake, his green eyes staring up at the dusty ceiling of the cupboard under the stairs. Harry woke up as Aunt Petunia rapped on the door again.

"Up!" she screeched. Henry heard her walking toward the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove.

Harry groaned and rolled onto his back while Henry tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one.

"Are you honestly trying to remember one of your weird dreams, Henry?"

"Yes," answered Henry. "And this time, it had a flying motorcycle on it. It's sort of like déjà vu. I feel like I've experienced something like it before."

Harry rolled his eyes.

Aunt Petunia was back outside the door.

"Are you up yet?" she demanded.

"Barely," said Harry at the same time Henry said, "Almost."

"Well, get a move on either way. Harry, I want you to look after the bacon and don't you dare let it burn. Henry, you better serve that coffee with just the right amount of cream and sugar. I want everything to be perfect on Duddy's birthday."

Harry groaned.

"What did you say?" Aunt Petunia snapped through the door.

"Nothing, nothing..." answered Harry as he grabbed his glasses and started dressing.

"Can't you keep your mouth shut for one moment? Honestly, it's like you want us to get in trouble!" Henry complained as he finished slipping on his day shirt and grabbed his pair of glasses, the ones that were taped together due to Dudley punching him in the nose once.

"Well maybe if you went to bed early, didn't get hungry, have the need to have me go get something for you to eat from the kitchen in the middle of the night, and have Aunt Petunia catch me, then maybe she'd be nicer to us." said Harry angrily as he shoved the door open and went out. Henry followed his angry twin silently into the kitchen.

The table in the kitchen was almost hidden beneath all of Dudley's birthday presents. Of course, there was the new racing bike. Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry and Henry, as Dudley was very fat and hated exercise - aside from punching someone. Dudley's favorite punching bag was Harry. There was also Henry, but Harry's need to defend his slightly shyer brother earned him more beatings and a bigger target on his back. The upside to it was that Dudley couldn't always catch Harry and Henry when he wanted to beat them up. The two Potter twins may not seem like it, but they were agile and fast, especially Harry.

Harry was frying eggs and Henry was pouring coffee into two mugs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his mother. Harry put the plates of egg and bacon on the table as Henry placed the mugs of coffee already mixed with cream and sugar onto the table. Meanwhile, Dudley was counting his presents.

"Thirty-six," Dudley said angrily, looking up at his mother and father. "That's two less than last year."

Harry and Henry looked at each other and rolled their eyes as Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon tried to assure Dudley that they would buy him two more presents.

After the bargain was made, the telephone rang, which Aunt Petunia went up to answer. Uncle Vernon watched Dudley unwrap his presents when Aunt Petunia returned with a worried and annoyed look on her face.

"Bad news, Vernon," she said. "Mrs. Figg's broke her leg. She can't take them." She jerked her head in Harry's and Henry's direction.

As Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia tried throwing around suggestions of where to put Harry and Henry, the Potter twins looked at each other in excitement. It was not every day that they were given an opportunity to go to a place of entertainment such as the zoo.

Just then, the doorbell rang. Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother. Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once.

Half an hour later, Harry and Henry could not believe their luck as they were in the car on the way to the zoo with the Dursleys and Piers. But before they'd left, Uncle Vernon had taken the two Potters aside and jabbed a finger at them both.

"Now I'm warning you," he said as he put his large purple face right up close to theirs, "I'm warning you now, boys - any funny business, anything at all - and you two will be in that cupboard from now until Christmas."

Harry, who had his arms folded lightly across his chest, said, "We're not going to do anything."

"Really," added Henry, who was carelessly rubbing his left shoulder with his right hand.

But Uncle Vernon did not believe them. They didn't expect him to, though.

It was the best morning Harry and Henry ever had. As Harry pressed his nose up against the glass to see the animals more clearly, Henry, out of curiosity, read the descriptions of each animal in front of each habitat. They tried their best to avoid upsetting the Dursleys and just stayed quiet. It lasted for a good while, but of course it didn't last forever. Something strange was bound to happen.

After lunch, they went to the reptile house. Harry, Henry, and even Dudley took a special liking to the fast asleep boa constrictor. Harry let Dudley press his nose against the glass to get a better look, wanting to avoid a fuss.

"Make it move," he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge.

"Do it again," Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass again but the snake kept snoozing.

"This is boring," Dudley moaned and shuffled away.

Harry went up to take the place of Dudley, his eyes intently piercing the snake. Henry, after reading the description of the large snake, went to stand next to Harry and look at it.

"It's cool, isn't it Henry?" said Harry in slight awe, not taking his eyes off of the snake.

"Yes, it is," answered Henry. He then turned to the snake and said, "We're sorry about Dudley. Sometimes they don't understand what it's like to lay around all day, doing nothing at all."

Apparently, Henry's conversation with the snake meant to be one-sided, because shock overcame both of the Potter twin's faces when the snake raised its head to face Henry and Harry and winked.

The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry and Henry a look that said quite plainly:

 _"I get that all the time."_

"I know," Harry murmured through the glass. "It's sometimes really annoying."

The snake nodded vigorously.

"Where do you come from?" asked Henry.

The snake jabbed its tail at another little sign next to the glass. Harry and Henry peered at it.

Boa Constrictor, Brazil

"Was it nice there?" asked Henry.

The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry and Henry read on: This specimen was bred in the zoo.

"Oh, I see - so you've never been to Brazil?" said Henry.

"That's a downright crime, being bred in captivity," contributed Harry.

As the snake shook its head, Piers yelled, "DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T _BELIEVE_ WHAT IT'S DOING!"

Dudley waddled toward them as fast as he could.

"Out of the way, you two," he said, punching Harry in the ribs, causing him and Henry to topple to the ground. Henry got the best of the fall to the concrete floor, groaning.

What came next was the strange part, but yet it was so fast that no one could see. One second, Piers and Dudley were leaning against the glass, and the next, they had leapt back with howls of horror.

The glass had vanished and the snake uncoiled itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor and heading for the exit. The ruckus the snake made caused no one to notice a hissing voice say to Harry and Henry, "Brazil, here I come... Thanksss, amigos."

Piers and Dudley afterwards interviewed Henry in a not so friendly way if he and Harry talked to the snake. Henry stutteringly gave in, which caused Uncle Vernon to shove them back inside the cupboard once they got back to the house.

"Come on."

"No."

"This is ridiculous! We both know we're hungry and we need food. Come with me."

"Absolutely not."

Henry refused to sneak out of the cupboard with his brother. Yes, Henry was hungry, but not hungry enough to let himself get caught by Uncle Vernon. Harry has always been the riskier twin, willing to sneak out for anything they needed. He even snuck out once when he was seven years old to get Henry a blanket. But that was more out of a need for adventure than out of brotherly love.

Harry groaned as Henry dismissed the whispered conversation. The two Potter boys couldn't tell for sure what time it was, nor if the Dursleys were asleep or not. Harry tried opening the cupboard door, but it wouldn't budge. Harry sighed and palmed his hand through his untidy jet black hair, one of the many physical traits that he shared with his brother.

"At least pick the lock for me," pleaded Harry.

Henry's stomach grumbled, indicating that he needed food right now. The slightly shorter and shyer twin put down the book he was reading and got up on his knees. He took out a bobby pin that Aunt Petunia had dropped on the floor once and bended it so it was like a stick. He picked the lock as quickly and quietly as he could and opened the door. Harry flashed Henry a quick thumbs up before stepping his bare feet out into the hall, checking the kitchen.

Henry nervously focused his eyes towards the bottom of the stairs, anxiously waiting for a Dursley member to come down. If he heard footsteps upstairs in the distance, he'd need to signal Harry back by imagining he was talking to a snake and whispering: " _Hurry up! They're coming!"_ Henry tried doing it in front of Dudley before and he didn't understand, but Harry did, so it naturally became their secret language.

Harry sneaked back into the hall, closing the kitchen door behind him, and jumping back into the cupboard. Henry immediately closed the cupboard door and locked it again with his bobby pin, so that there wouldn't be any proof that they'd snuck out.

Henry grinned at the piles of snacks Harry laid out in between them. They were going to fall asleep with full stomachs tonight.


	3. Smuggling A Letter

"Up! Get up! Now!"

But Henry was already awake, his green eyes staring up at the dusty ceiling of the cupboard under the stairs. Harry woke up as Aunt Petunia rapped on the door again.

"Up!" she screeched. Henry heard her walking toward the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove.

Harry groaned and rolled onto his back while Henry tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one.

"Are you honestly trying to remember one of your weird dreams, Henry?"

"Yes," answered Henry. "And this time, it had a flying motorcycle on it. It's sort of like déjà vu. I feel like I've experienced something like it before."

Harry rolled his eyes.

Aunt Petunia was back outside the door.

"Are you up yet?" she demanded.

"Barely," said Harry at the same time Henry said, "Almost."

"Well, get a move on either way. Harry, I want you to look after the bacon and don't you dare let it burn. Henry, you better serve that coffee with just the right amount of cream and sugar. I want everything to be perfect on Duddy's birthday."

Harry groaned.

"What did you say?" Aunt Petunia snapped through the door.

"Nothing, nothing..." answered Harry as he grabbed his glasses and started dressing.

"Can't you keep your mouth shut for one moment? Honestly, it's like you want us to get in trouble!" Henry complained as he finished slipping on his day shirt and grabbed his pair of glasses, the ones that were taped together due to Dudley punching him in the nose once.

"Well maybe if you went to bed early, didn't get hungry, have the need to have me go get something for you to eat from the kitchen in the middle of the night, and have Aunt Petunia catch me, then maybe she'd be nicer to us." said Harry angrily as he shoved the door open and went out. Henry followed his angry twin silently into the kitchen.

The table in the kitchen was almost hidden beneath all of Dudley's birthday presents. Of course, there was the new racing bike. Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry and Henry, as Dudley was very fat and hated exercise - aside from punching someone. Dudley's favorite punching bag was Harry. There was also Henry, but Harry's need to defend his slightly shyer brother earned him more beatings and a bigger target on his back. The upside to it was that Dudley couldn't always catch Harry and Henry when he wanted to beat them up. The two Potter twins may not seem like it, but they were agile and fast, especially Harry.

Harry was frying eggs and Henry was pouring coffee into two mugs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his mother. Harry put the plates of egg and bacon on the table as Henry placed the mugs of coffee already mixed with cream and sugar onto the table. Meanwhile, Dudley was counting his presents.

"Thirty-six," Dudley said angrily, looking up at his mother and father. "That's two less than last year."

Harry and Henry looked at each other and rolled their eyes as Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon tried to assure Dudley that they would buy him two more presents.

After the bargain was made, the telephone rang, which Aunt Petunia went up to answer. Uncle Vernon watched Dudley unwrap his presents when Aunt Petunia returned with a worried and annoyed look on her face.

"Bad news, Vernon," she said. "Mrs. Figg's broke her leg. She can't take them." She jerked her head in Harry's and Henry's direction.

As Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia tried throwing around suggestions of where to put Harry and Henry, the Potter twins looked at each other in excitement. It was not every day that they were given an opportunity to go to a place of entertainment such as the zoo.

Just then, the doorbell rang. Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother. Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once.

Half an hour later, Harry and Henry could not believe their luck as they were in the car on the way to the zoo with the Dursleys and Piers. But before they'd left, Uncle Vernon had taken the two Potters aside and jabbed a finger at them both.

"Now I'm warning you," he said as he put his large purple face right up close to theirs, "I'm warning you now, boys - any funny business, anything at all - and you two will be in that cupboard from now until Christmas."

Harry, who had his arms folded lightly across his chest, said, "We're not going to do anything."

"Really," added Henry, who was carelessly rubbing his left shoulder with his right hand.

But Uncle Vernon did not believe them. They didn't expect him to, though.

It was the best morning Harry and Henry ever had. As Harry pressed his nose up against the glass to see the animals more clearly, Henry, out of curiosity, read the descriptions of each animal in front of each habitat. They tried their best to avoid upsetting the Dursleys and just stayed quiet. It lasted for a good while, but of course it didn't last forever. Something strange was bound to happen.

After lunch, they went to the reptile house. Harry, Henry, and even Dudley took a special liking to the fast asleep boa constrictor. Harry let Dudley press his nose against the glass to get a better look, wanting to avoid a fuss.

"Make it move," he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge.

"Do it again," Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass again but the snake kept snoozing.

"This is boring," Dudley moaned and shuffled away.

Harry went up to take the place of Dudley, his eyes intently piercing the snake. Henry, after reading the description of the large snake, went to stand next to Harry and look at it.

"It's cool, isn't it Henry?" said Harry in slight awe, not taking his eyes off of the snake.

"Yes, it is," answered Henry. He then turned to the snake and said, "We're sorry about Dudley. Sometimes they don't understand what it's like to lay around all day, doing nothing at all."

Apparently, Henry's conversation with the snake meant to be one-sided, because shock overcame both of the Potter twin's faces when the snake raised its head to face Henry and Harry and winked.

The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry and Henry a look that said quite plainly:

 _"I get that all the time."_

"I know," Harry murmured through the glass. "It's sometimes really annoying."

The snake nodded vigorously.

"Where do you come from?" asked Henry.

The snake jabbed its tail at another little sign next to the glass. Harry and Henry peered at it.

Boa Constrictor, Brazil

"Was it nice there?" asked Henry.

The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry and Henry read on: This specimen was bred in the zoo.

"Oh, I see - so you've never been to Brazil?" said Henry.

"That's a downright crime, being bred in captivity," contributed Harry.

As the snake shook its head, Piers yelled, "DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T _BELIEVE_ WHAT IT'S DOING!"

Dudley waddled toward them as fast as he could.

"Out of the way, you two," he said, punching Harry in the ribs, causing him and Henry to topple to the ground. Henry got the best of the fall to the concrete floor, groaning.

What came next was the strange part, but yet it was so fast that no one could see. One second, Piers and Dudley were leaning against the glass, and the next, they had leapt back with howls of horror.

The glass had vanished and the snake uncoiled itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor and heading for the exit. The ruckus the snake made caused no one to notice a hissing voice say to Harry and Henry, "Brazil, here I come... Thanksss, amigos."

Piers and Dudley afterwards interviewed Henry in a not so friendly way if he and Harry talked to the snake. Henry stutteringly gave in, which caused Uncle Vernon to shove them back inside the cupboard once they got back to the house.

"Come on."

"No."

"This is ridiculous! We both know we're hungry and we need food. Come with me."

"Absolutely not."

Henry refused to sneak out of the cupboard with his brother. Yes, Henry was hungry, but not hungry enough to let himself get caught by Uncle Vernon. Harry has always been the riskier twin, willing to sneak out for anything they needed. He even snuck out once when he was seven years old to get Henry a blanket. But that was more out of a need for adventure than out of brotherly love.

Harry groaned as Henry dismissed the whispered conversation. The two Potter boys couldn't tell for sure what time it was, nor if the Dursleys were asleep or not. Harry tried opening the cupboard door, but it wouldn't budge. Harry sighed and palmed his hand through his untidy jet black hair, one of the many physical traits that he shared with his brother.

"At least pick the lock for me," pleaded Harry.

Henry's stomach grumbled, indicating that he needed food right now. The slightly shorter and shyer twin put down the book he was reading and got up on his knees. He took out a bobby pin that Aunt Petunia had dropped on the floor once and bended it so it was like a stick. He picked the lock as quickly and quietly as he could and opened the door. Harry flashed Henry a quick thumbs up before stepping his bare feet out into the hall, checking the kitchen.

Henry nervously focused his eyes towards the bottom of the stairs, anxiously waiting for a Dursley member to come down. If he heard footsteps upstairs in the distance, he'd need to signal Harry back by imagining he was talking to a snake and whispering: " _Hurry up! They're coming!"_ Henry tried doing it in front of Dudley before and he didn't understand, but Harry did, so it naturally became their secret language.

Harry sneaked back into the hall, closing the kitchen door behind him, and jumping back into the cupboard. Henry immediately closed the cupboard door and locked it again with his bobby pin, so that there wouldn't be any proof that they'd snuck out.

Henry grinned at the piles of snacks Harry laid out in between them. They were going to fall asleep with full stomachs tonight.


	4. A Friendly Stranger on the Street

And receive magic they did. After what felt like months to Harry and Henry, the day of their birthday arrived. The Dursleys acted like there was nothing special that day. In fact, their 'birthday presents' were double the amount of chores.

It was nearing evening when Henry and Harry were out on the porch. Henry was pulling weeds from Aunt Petunia's garden as Harry cleaned up the 'unintentional' mess Dudley left all over the lawn. Harry's hopes of a supposed magic school were at an all time low, and nothing seemed to get better.

The downward spiral of hope stopped just when a large hairy man wearing a large coat and carrying an umbrella stopped to peer at the two twins cleaning the lawn.

Henry noticed the man spying on them from afar first. He was hiding behind a thick tree, but it didn't do him any good in concealment.

"Harry," whispered Henry.

"What?" asked Harry as he looked up at Henry and looked around.

"I think there's a man watching us." Henry continued whispering as Harry started subtly walking closer to Henry and the house.

"I'll use my rake and knock him down from behind and you slap him with your shovel."

"Are you sure we can't just go inside? I'm pretty sure that he'll be scared off pretty easily once he sees Uncle Vernon," said Henry.

"Wait! I think that might be the man who's come to get us!" said Harry, a smile slapping onto his face.

"Maybe..."

"Come on! Let's act like we're working and maybe he'll come closer!"

Harry immediately started cleaning up the lawn as Henry rolled his eyes and threw the pile of already picked weeds into the composter. Their resume of working caused the man to come closer, and eventually walk casually past their lawn and stop in his tracks.

"'Scuse me young lads!" the large man said in a jolly tone. Harry and Henry immediately stopped working and looked up at the man.

"Don't s'pose yer can tell me yer names?" asked the strange man.

Henry and Harry looked at each other excitedly.

"I'm Harry, and this is my brother Henry," said Harry.

"Me stars, so yer the Potter twins?"

"I suppose so. How do you know us?" asked Henry.

"Well, I just came by ter see if you got yer letter!"

Harry and Henry looked at each other with smiles on their faces.

"'Spose yer do by the looks on yer faces. Oh, by the way, I'm Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of the Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts."

"May we call you Hagrid?" asked Henry as he took out the Hogwarts envelope and handed it to the large man.

"O' course! Everyone does. So I don't s'pose yer aunt and uncle already know 'bout Hogwarts, then?"

"Actually..." Harry started to explain but was then interrupted by a shriek. Uh oh.

"VERNON!" yelled Aunt Petunia as her eyes widened at the large hairy man.

Uncle Vernon came storming out of the house, followed by Dudley. All of the Dursleys' eyes widened at the large hairy man.

"Boys," said Uncle Vernon dangerously. "Get back in the house. Now."

"They'll do no such nothing!" Hagrid's voice boomed as he stepped onto the lawn.

Dudley whimpered behind Uncle Vernon as Aunt Petunia tried to control her breathing. Meanwhile, Harry was smiling wickedly and Henry was trying not to chuckle.

"I demand that you leave at once, sir!" said Uncle Vernon. "You are breaking and entering!"

"Ah, shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune," said Hagrid, marching over to the rake-armed Uncle Vernon. Hagrid grabbed the rake from Uncle Vernon and tossed it aside as if it were a feather.

"Anyway - Harry, Henry," said Hagrid as he turned his back on the Dursleys and motioned for the two to come to him.

Harry and Henry ran up to the kneeling giant as he took out a white plastic box from his massive black coat. "a very happy birthday to yeh both. Got summat fer yeh here - I mighta sat on it at some point, but it'll taste all right."

Hagrid opened the box which revealed a large, sticky chocolate cake with Happy Birthday Harry and Henry! written on it in green icing.

Dudley fidgeted a little at the sight of the scrumptious looking birthday cake that Harry and Henry were now holding. Uncle Vernon said sharply, "Don't touch anything he gives you, Dudley."

"Yer great puddin' of a son don' need fattenin' anymore, Dursely, don' worry. As I was sayin', I'm Keeper of the Keys at Hogwarts - yeh'll know all about Hogwarts, o' course."

"All we know is that it's a wizarding school," said Henry.

"An' a fine one it is, Harry, er..."

"Henry," corrected Henry and continued. "Hagrid, that's all we know. All we know about this supposed existing magical world is that there's this magic school called Hogwarts and that mails are responded by owls, I think."

Hagrid looked shocked.

"Sorry," said Harry quickly.

"Sorry?" barked Hagrid, turning to stare at the Dursleys, who were somehow still frozen to their front porch and staring at the half-giant. "It's them 'as should be sorry! I knew they weren't givin' yer letters to yeh, but I never thought yeh wouldn't even know anythin' more abou' Hogwarts, fer cryin' out loud! Did yeh never wonder where yer parents learned it all?"

"Learned all what? Magic?" asked Harry.

"YEH DON'T KNOW?" Hagrid thundered. "Now wait jus' one second!" Hagrid lept to his feet, which caused Henry to drag himself and Harry back. Henry wondered why no one was awoken by this racket.

"Do you mean ter tell me," he growled at the frozen Dursleys, "that these boys - these boys! - know nothin' abou' - about ANYTHING?"

Harry, for the sake of the Dursleys' physical safety, decided to step in.

"Henry and I know some things," he said. "I mean, we both do math and stuff."

Henry slapped his palm to his forehead. "He means the magical world, idiot."

"Oh," said a now flustered Harry. "Then yeah, we only know about Hogwarts. But that's only because we read the letter in secret."

Hagrid looked as if he was about to explode.

"DURSLEY!" he boomed.

Uncle Vernon, who had gone very pale, just stood there. He was completely speechless.

Hagrid stared wildly at Harry and Henry and said, "But yeh must know about yer mum and dad," he said. "I mean, they're _famous_. You're _famous_."

"WHAT?" Harry exclaimed as he pushed past Henry and stood in front of Hagrid. "Our mum and dad were famous?"

"Our - our mum and dad weren't famous, were they?" asked Henry timidly.

"Yeh don' know... yeh don' know..." Hagrid ran his fingers through his hair, fixing Harry and Henry with a bewildered stare.

"Yeh don' know what yeh are?"

"Er... I believe we might be some sorts of wizards, I guess?" said Harry uncertainly.

Uncle Vernon finally found his voice.

"Stop!" he commanded. "Stop right there, sir! I forbid you to tell the boys anything!"

Hagrid gave Uncle Vernon a furious look, which quieted the Dursley man.

"You never told them? Never told them what was in the letter Dumbledore left fer them? I was there! I saw Dumbledore leave it, Dursley! An' you've kept it from them all these years?"

"Kept what from us? That we're magic people?" asked Henry eagerly.

"Wait, wait! Who's Dumbledore?" asked Harry.

"STOP! I FORBID YOU!" yelled Uncle Vernon in panic.

Aunt Petunia gave a gasp of horror.

"Ah, go boil yer heads, both of yeh," said Hagrid. "Harry, Henry - yer right, yeh are wizards." There were two seconds of silence before Harry burst out in cries and whoops of joy.

"I TOLD YOU! I TOLD YOU! I _TOLD_ YOU!" Harry whooped mercilessly, bouncing on the balls of his feet next to a shocked looking Henry.

"A wizard... I'm a wizard..." said Henry to himself.

"Wizards, o' course," said Hagrid, "an' thumpin' good'uns, I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit. With a mum an' dad like yours, what else would yeh both be? Yeh said yeh read the letter?"

"Yes!" said Harry and Henry.

"Gallopin' Gorgons, I nearly forgot," said Hagrid as he retrieved from yet another pocket inside his overcoat a real live ruffled-looking owl, a long quill, and a roll of parchment. He scribbled a note to Dumbledore and sent it off with the owl. Harry and Henry looked at the quickly shrinking owl in the sky in amazement.

"Where was I?" said Hagrid, but then, Uncle Vernon, still ashen-faced but looking furious, moved to stand in front of Hagrid.

"They are not going," he said.

Hagrid grunted and said, "I'd like ter see a great Muggle like you stop them," he said.

"A what?" said Henry, interested.

"A Muggle," said Hagrid, "it's what we call nonmagic folk like them. An' it's your bad luck you grew up in a family o' the biggest Muggles I ever laid eyes on."

"We swore when we took them in we'd put a stop to that rubbish," said Uncle Vernon, "swore we'd stamp it out of them! Wizards indeed!"

"You knew?" said Harry, completely furious and looking as if he were about to lose his head. "You knew that Henry and I were wizards?!"

"Knew!" shrieked Aunt Petunia suddenly. "Knew! Of course we knew! How could you not be, my dratted sister being what she was? Oh, she got a letter just like that and disappeared off to that - that school - and came home every vacation with her pockets full of frog spawn, turning teacups into rats. I was the only one who saw her for what she was - a freak! But for my mother and father, oh no, it was Lily this and Lily that, they were proud of having a witch in the family!"

Henry's heart filled with understanding, feeling slightly bad for Aunt Petunia having to go through never experiencing what a magical school would be like and being overshadowed by her sister. But according to Harry's face, his brother thought otherwise.

Aunt Petunia stopped to draw a deep breath and then went ranting on. It seemed she had been wanting to say all this for years.

"Then she met that Potter at school and they left and got married and had you two, and of course I knew you two would be just the same, just as strange, just as - as - abnormal - and then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up and we got landed with you two!"

Harry's eyes widened and his face flushed red in complete anger. Henry silently exhaled in exhaustion, sorrow, and shock and closed his eyes. He had been lied to; that's why he forever resented the Dursleys.

"Blown up? You told me they died in a car crash!" exclaimed Harry angrily.

"CAR CRASH!" roared Hagrid, jumping up so angrily that the Vernon Dursley scuttled back a step and Dudley whimpered even more. "How could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter? It's an outrage! A scandal! Harry and Henry Potter not knowin' their own story when every kid in our world knows their names!"

"But why? What happened?" Henry asked urgently.

The anger faded from Hagrid's face and he suddenly looked anxious.

"I never expected this," he said, in a low, worried voice. "I had no idea, when Dumbledore told me there might be trouble gettin' hold of yeh, how much yeh didn't know. Ah, Harry, Henry, I don' know if I'm the right person ter tell yeh - but someone's gotta - yeh can't go off ter Hogwarts not knowin'."

Hagrid threw a dirty look at the Dursleys; so did Harry. Henry just kept a neutral face.

And so Hagrid told of how everything started with an evil wizard, whose name Hagrid feared to speak, and his name was Voldemort. He told of how Voldemort had power, and those willing to find a place in his 'new world' would follow him. These were the dark days. Then he told of how Voldemort broke into his house ten years ago, when Harry and Henry just a year old, and killed their mum and dad while trying to kill the Potter twins but failed.

"But what happened to Vol - sorry, sorry! - I mean, You-Know-Who?"

"Good question, er..."

"Harry."

"Harry. He disappeared. Vanished. Same night he tried ter kill you. Makes yeh even more famous. That's the biggest myst'ry, see... he was gettin' more an' more powerful - why'd he go? Some say he died. Codswallop, in my opinion. Dunno if he had enough human left in him to die. Some say he's still out there, bidin' his time, like, but I don' believe it. People who was on his side came back ter ours. Some of 'em came outta kinda trances. Don' reckon they could've done if he was comin' back."

"Are you absolutely sure we're wizards, Hagrid?" asked Henry, which annoyed Harry to the extent.

"Oh stop it, Henry! Of course we are! This man, Hagrid, has come to see us and just told us the truth about our parents!"

"Don't believe me, eh? Never made things happen when you was angry or scared?"

Henry bit his lip in thought. He pondered over every odd thing that has happened that he or Harry couldn't explain, such as his hair growing back every time Aunt Petunia tried to cut it. Even just a month ago when he and Harry made the glass disappear at the zoo and talked to that snake!

Henry slowly nodded and smiled.

"See?" said Hagrid. "Harry and Henry Potter, not wizards - you wait, you two will be right famous at Hogwarts."

But of course, Uncle Vernon was persistent in not letting the Potter twins leave.

"I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS!" yelled Uncle Vernon.

Hagrid seized his umbrella and whirled it over his head, "NEVER - INSULT - ALBUS - DUMBLEDORE - IN - FRONT - OF ME!"

Pointing the umbrella at Dudley, he swished it and then Dudley grew a curly pig's tail which poked a hole through his trousers.

Uncle Vernon roared and pulled Aunt Petunia and Dudley back into the house with one last terrified look at Hagrid and slammed the door behind them.

"Shouldn'ta lost me temper," Hagrid said ruefully, "but it didn't work anyway. Be grateful if yeh didn't mention that ter anyone at Hogwarts. I'm - er- not supposed ter do magic, strictly speakin'."

"Not a sound from me!" said Harry happily while Henry hesitantly nodded.

"It's gettin' late and we've got lots ter do tomorrow," said Hagrid. "Gotta get up ter town, get all yer books an' that."

He took off his thick black coat and threw it towards Harry, which unintentionally landed on and covered Henry.

"Er, oops," said Hagrid. "You can kip under that inside that little o' cupboard of yers. Don' mind if it wriggles a bit, I think I still got a couple o' dormice in one o' the pockets."

"Sweet!" said Harry and Henry shrieked when something squeaked inside one of the pockets.


End file.
